Current control clock



June 11, 1940. J. DE HAI-:s

CURRENT CONTROL CLOCK Filed Oct. 9, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 y fra/671%?" x "/fofne eHc-S l?" a WW June l1, 1940. J. DE HAES 2,203,944

CURRENT CONTROL CLOCK Filed Oct. 9, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 11, 1940. J, DE; HAES 2,203,944

CURRENT CONTROL CLOCK Filed Oct. 9. 1937 5` Sheets-Sheet 3 franz@ ejycles ya @j Patented June 11, 1940 UNITED STATE ATENT OFFCE Application October 9,

8 Claims.

This invention relates to current control clocks and is of particular utility in controlling the electrical apparatus for actuating combustion effecting or aiding devices for a heating furnace, for

15 example. It has been found that the economy and efhciency of a heating furnace, particularly on operating by an automatic feeding device such as in a stoker operated or oil burning furnace, may be enhanced by having the feeding mechanism operated irregularly instead of continuously. The invention might also be used for actuating the drafts of a heating furnace. It is well known that the economy and eliiciency of a heating furnace may be enhanced by alternately opening and closing the drafts to suit temperature conditions, but such control by thermostatic or temperature responsive devices has not been entirely satisfactory. The present invention aims to provide means controlled by a time clock, not only for such alternating operation, but also for varying the intervals of on and off position of the electrical apparatus over a period of twenty-four hours.

The invention further provides such control means in association with an ordinary twelve hour dial clock with the attendant advantages of such a combination in a unitary structure, which is compact and relatively simple in manufacture and operation.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the structure of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a plan section on the scale of Fig. 2 taken on the line 3-3 thereof, looking in the direction of the arrows indicated;

Figure 4 is another plan section taken on the line 4--4 of Fig, 2 and looking in the opposite direction;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary View of the metallic stamping for the switch track also shown in 45 Fig. 4;

Figure 6 is a further enlarged segmental section taken cn the curved line i-E of Fig. 4;

Figure '7 is a plan view of the insulating disk; and

Figure 8 is a similar view of the metallic conductor disk.

Referring in detail to the illustrative construction shown in the drawings, the numeral I indicates conventional time clock mechanism for 55A rotating a pair of spindles I! and I2, to one of 1937, Serial No. 168,125

which, the spindle II, is xed the usual minute hand I3 and to the other spindle I2 the usual hour hand l llof an ordinary twelve hour clock.

ln accordance with the present invention, said spindles II and I2 pass centrally through a uni- 5 tary structure comprising a` casing I5 desirably made of insulating material such as Bakelite, properly sectioned as hereafter described, one of said sections IS being the front section and providing a dial face Il for the clock, having the 10 usual hour numerals thereon from one to twelve. Screws I8 secure the front section I6 to an intermediate section I9 of the Bakelite casing, this latter section being of annular formation and serving as a spacer between the front section I6 15 and a back section 20 of the casing. Screws 2I secure the intermediate section I9 and back section 2l) together. Screws 22 mount the casing as a whole onto the clock mechanism Ill by passing thereinto from the back section 2li.

Received within the casing centrally of the spindles are a pair of disks 23 and 24, the disk 23 being of insulating material also desirably of Bakelite, and the disk 24 being of metallic conductor material such as brass. Central perfora- 25 tions 25 and 26 respectively in said disks permit them to` pass over said spindles and to t substantially snugly on a central insulating boss 2l carried by a hub portion 28 of the rear casing section 20.

The disks 23 and 24 are adapted to be intercalated and for this purpose the disk 23 has the radial slits 29 therein dividing the periphery of the disk into twelve equal sectors. The disk 23 is xed with respect to the casing and to accom- 35 plish this has its periphery clamped between the casing sections I9 and 20 as at Bil, and also as shown in Fig. 6, the mating faces of the casing sections at this point are stepped to provide pockets which further lock the disk against rotation, 40 and these pockets are also arranged to cant the sectors of the disk 23 respectively out of the plane of the disk, as best shown in Fig. 6, and for a purpose presently described. In forming the disk 23 the sectors 3l where 'they join the central 45 portion 32 of the disk are slightly bulbed out as at S3 so that the sectors of the disk 2li may be received therebetween as next described.

The metallic conductor disk 24 is also sectored in twelve equal sectors 34, as shown in 50 Fig. 8, by radial slits 35. In this case, however, the slits 35 are arcuate for a portion of their length, as indicated at 36 so as more readily to permit the intercalation of the sectors of disks 23 and 24, as best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, from 55- which it will be seen that the sectors 34 of the disk 24 are received through the slots 29 in the disks 23 to have portions of the sectors 34 overlapped with portions of the sectors 3i respectively and alternately and, as best shown in Fig. 4, providing the outer face 31 of the disk 23 with circinnferentially spaced apart overlapping portions 38 of the metallic conductor disk 24.

To vary the area of the portions 38 exposed on the outer disk face 31, the disk 24 has secured thereto a lever 39 by which the disk 24 may be partially rotated, the metallic lever 39 having a handle 4B desirably of insulating material, secured thereto by the screw 4i and accessible on the outer face of the clock as shown in Fig. l, a graduated scale 42 on the clock face and an indicator 43 on the handle 49 determining the rotative position of the disk 24 with respect to the disk 23. The lever 39 has an enlarged circular portion 44 which is secured by rivets 45 to the central portion 4G of the disk 24, so that these two parts will move together. Rotation of these parts is limited by headed pins 41 secured to the fixed insulating disk 29 and passing through slots 48 in the central portions 44 and 45 respectively. A slot 49 in the periphery of the casing section permits the lever 39 to pass therethrough and to have rotative movement within the limits oi the slots 48.

A switch member is carried by the casing to ride over the face 31 of the disk 23 and to have circuit continuing relationship with the portions 38 of the metallic conductor disk 24 which appear upon the face of the disk 31 as described. For this purpose a switch arm 53 of insulating material is mounted by a metallic hub 5i and clamping screw 52 to the spindle i2 for the hour hand I4. The arm 50 is extended in a metallic rod 53 suitably secured to the insulating portion of the arm as by a rivet 54, this rod being desirably of square cross-section as best shown in Fig. 6, and mounting slidingly thereon a metallic bridge member 55 having ngers 55 and 51, these fingers being laterally offset from the portion 58 of the bridge member which directly engages the rod 53, and being mounted in spring-barrel portions 59 of the bridge member which contain compression coil springs 5U and press the fingers outwardly into engagement with the other switch elements as next described.

It will be understood that among these other switch elements are the portions 33 of the metallic disk 24 which appear on the face 31 of the insulating disk 23, and the iinger 56 is so arranged radially of the arm 50 as to ride on and off of these portions 38. A conductor 6| is secured as at 62 to the back of the insulating section 2U of the casing and constitutes one side of the circuit, an extensible insulated wire 53 connecting the conductor 6I with the lever 39 as by being soldered thereto as at 64, thus placing the sectors 38 in circuit with this side of the line.

The other` side of the line is represented by a conductor 55 which is secured to a terminal 86 in the form of a tab portion of a metallic stamping G1 having concentric portions E8 and B9, which are received respectively in tracks 1U and 1l formed as grooves in a face portion 12 of the insulating casing section I9, the stamped plate 61 being pressed into these grooves, so as to form the bottoms of the grooves. These grooves receive the finger 51 of the bridge member 55 so that the nger 51 is in constant electrical connection with the stamped plate 51 which in turn is electrically connected with the conductor B5.

The concentric stamped plate portions 68 and 89 are in communication With each other at 13 at which point also the grooves 10 and 1I are in communication, and the ringer 51 swivels in its spring-barrel 59 under the iniuence of an elongated guide portion 14 of the finger, which rides in the grooves 10 and 1I.

The operation of the device is as follows:

It will be understood that the arm 50 is radially aligned with and travels with the hour hand I4 of the clock, and also that the movable bridge member 55 of the arm 50 occupies one position radially of the arm 5U when the hour hand is traveling through the twelve hours of a P. M. period of the day, and another position radially when the hour hand is traveling through the A. M. period of the day. Assuming now that the clock is in the P. M. period, the finger 51 will ride in the outer groove 1i, in contact with the plate 81, and the finger 56 will ride alternately over the conductor plate portions 38 of the disk 24 and the insulating face 31 of the disk 23. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, as the arm 50 covers a portion of the disks 23 and 24 corresponding to the hour from twelve to one in the afternoon of the day, the electrical control circuit will be completed by the switching and circuit continuing mechanism already described, that is during the rst half hour say, of this hour, from twelve to twelve-thirty, the furnace drafts will be open at the end of which half hour the nger 55 will ride oif the adjacent portion 38 of the conductor plate and will ride onto the adjacent face 31 of the insulating plate, thus discontinuing the circuit and closing the furnace drafts by conventional mechanism not here necessary to be described. The drafts will remain closed from twelve-thirty to one oclock. Then at one oclock the nger 56 will again ride onto the next portion 38 of the conductor disk 24 and the furnace drafts will be open again for another half hour and so on. It will be noted that at this time the movable bridge member 55 is in its outermost position radially of the arm 50 by reason of the iinger 51 being in the track 1|, so that the finger 56 is riding upon. the radially outermost portions of the portions 38. If now it be desired to have the furnace drafts closed during the entire period of say the hours from two to three in the afternoon, to save fuel, or to prevent over-heating, the next adjacent portion 38 may have its outermost portion 15 removed so that during the hours from two to three oclock in the afternoon the finger 56 will not Contact any portion of a portion 38 of the conductor disk, whereas at three oclock it will engage another adjacent portion 38 and the furnace drafts will be opened for another half hour, and so on.

When now the hour hand has completed a twelve hour movement representing the P. M.

hours of the day and is again at the top of the v dial, the arm 50 will also reach this point, and, by means of communication of the grooves 10 and 1I at a point corresponding to the numeral I2 on the clock dial, and through the actuation of suitable cam bevels at 18 in the grooves and at 11 on the guide 14 respectively, the finger 51 is cammed or shifted from the outermost. or P. M. groove 1 I, to the innermost or A. M. groove 18, thus moving the bridge member 55 radially inwardly on its rod 53, so that during the next twelve hour movement of the clock the ringer 56 is in engagement with the radially innermost portions of the portions 38 of the conductor disk 24. Thus, when the hour hand reaches a point indicating the beginning of a period from say live-thirty in the morning to seven-thirty in the morning, the finger B may ride continuously in electrical connection with a thin metallic segment 'i8 which is fastened at its ends only as at iii and 8@ to adjacent sectors 38 of the conductor disk 24 and so as to bridge these sectors. By reason of the connections of this segment i3 at its ends only it does not prevent rotation of the disk 2d already described. It will also be noted that 'title segment 'i8 is suniciently narrow so that ien the iinger 57 is travelling in the outer or M, groove Il and the ringer 56 is at its radially outermost position, the finger 5E will not contact the segment 'i8 during the hours from .uve-thirty to seven-thirty in the afternoon, but will. do so to keep the furnace drafts open during these hours in the morning when it is desired to bring the heat up quickly.

It will be understood that instead of the furnace being on and off alternately lr half hours at a time, as is normally provided by the exposed areas of the portions 38 as shown in Fig. e, the disk 24 may be rotated by means of the handle d to expose suflicient portions 38 to have the furnace on for say a minimum of ten minutes of each hour, or a maximum of say fifty minutes of hour, depending upon temperature ccnditions, and the graduated scale 42 may indicate by lthe graduation zero such ten minute intervals, by the graduation l, twenty minute intervals, etc,

Manifestly, the invention is not limited to details of construction shown for purposes of illustration. Furthermore, it is not indispensible that all features of the invention be used conjointly, as various combinations and sub-combinations may be advantageously employed.

Such changes may be made as fall within the scope of the following claims without departing from the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. In a current control clock, the combination of time mechanism, a switch, and means controlled by the time mechanism for alternately continuing and discontinuing a current through said switch, wherein means are provided for varying the time of on and 01T positions of the switch, and wherein said last-mentioned means includes a radially slit insulating disk and a radially slit metallic conductor disk, said disks being adapted to be intercalated with the radial sectors of the conductor disk passing between and partially overlapping the radial sectors of the insulating disk, wherein one member of the switch is carried by the hour hand of the time mechanism and rides over said insulating and conductor sectors alternately, wherein means are provided for varying the degree of overlap, wherein the other` member of the switch is also carried by said hour hand and comprises a finger in constant engagement with a metallic plate, said finger also riding in a track by the clock, and wherein both of said switch members are carried on a radially movable portion of said hour hand and said track is adapted to move said radially movable portion to Vary the radial position of the first-mentioned switch member and wherein the degree of said overlap is varied radially to register with said radial variation of said first-mentioned switch member.

2. In a current control clock, the unitary structure comprising a twelve hour dial and hour hand, a casing for the same, a pair of sector disks, one of said disks being of insulating material and the other of conductor material, the sectors of said disks being intercalated and partially overlapped, switch members carried by the hour hand mechanism within said casing, one of said switch members riding alternately on said overlapped sectors and the other switch member being associated with means within the casing for moving the said first-mentioned switch member radially on said sectors.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein the casing is of insulating material and comprises mating sections receiving the said disks therebetween, said sections canting the disk sectors of the insulating disk slightly out of the plane of said disk.

4. In a current control clock, the combination including an hour hand spindle, an arm fixed on said spindle, a radially movable segment on said arm and a pair of lingers on said movable segment, one of said lingers being adapted to move on a pair of concentric tracks, and means for shifting said track-engaging finger from one to the other of said concentric tracks at the end of each twelve hour period to move said movable member radially.

5. In a current control clock, the combination of time mechanism, a switch, and means controlled by the time mechanism for alternately continuing and discontinuing a current through said switch, wherein means are provided for varying the time of on and off positions of the switch, and wherein said last-mentioned means includes an insulating disk and a metallic conductor disk, said disks being adapted to be intercalated with the portions of the conductor disk passing between and partially overlapping the portions of the insulating disk, wherein one member of the switch is carried by the hour hand of the time mechanism and rides over said insulating and conductor sectors alternately, wherein the other member of the switch is also carried by said hour hand and comprises a iinger in constant engagement with a metallic plate, said -lnger also riding in a track carried on a radially movable portion of said hour hand and said track is adapted to move said radially movable portion to vary the radial position of the iirst-mentioned switch member and wherein the said overlap portion is varied radially to register with said radial variation of said rst-mentioned switch member.

6. In a current control clock, the combination of time mechanism, a switch, and means controlled by the time mechanism for alternately continuing and discontinuing a current through said switch, wherein means are provided for Varying the time of on and oir positions of the switch, and wherein said last-mentioned means includes an insulating disk and a metallic conductor disk,

`said disks being adapted to be intercalated with portions of the conductor disk passing between and partially overlapping the portions of the insulating disk, wherein one member of the switch is carried by the hour of the time mechanism and rides over said insulating and conductor sectors alternately, wherein means are provided for Varying the degree of overlap, wherein the other member of the switch is also carried by said hour hand and comprises a finger in constant engagement with a metallic plate, said ringer also riding in a track carried by the clock, and wherein both of said switch members are carried on a radiallyv movable portion of said hour hand and said track is adapted to move said radially movable portion to vary the radial position of the first-mentioned switch member.

7 In a current control clock, the unitary structure comprising in combination with a twelve hour dial time mechanism and an hour hand spindle for moving an hour hand around said dial once in every twelve hours, of an arm xed on said spindle to move also around said dial every twelve hours, switch members carried by said arm including a member movable relatively to said hour hand, an annular metallic plate, one of the switch members being in constant engagement with said plate, means arranged at different radii from said spindle for moving said movable switch member, and intercalated and partially overlapped alternating conducting and non-conducting segments adapted to be engaged by one of said switch members.

8. In a current control clock of the class described, the unitary structure comprising, in combination with time mechanism, of circuit control mechanism actuated by said time mechanism including switch means for alternately opening and closing said circuit at uniform intervals during one period of time, common means for varying said interval, and additional means also responsive to said time mechanism but independent of said common means and arranged to effect nonuniform intervals of closed and open conditions of said circuit during other periods of time, said switch means being brought into action responsive to said time mechanism at the ends of the periods of time during which said additional means is in action.

JEROME DE HAES. 

